The Judge
Warner Bros. | Release Date: October 10, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
48
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
21
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
ObserverRex ReedOct 8, 2014
Equal parts courtroom drama, legal thriller and family saga, it’s also a synchronized duet for two terrific actors at the top of their craft that left me stunned. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierOct 10, 2014
Speaking of committed: Duvall, at age 83, nearly steals the show. Always the most inscrutable of the great ’70s actors, Duvall uses his great, unassuming American face to convey pride, confusion, pain and compassion — sometimes all at once. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickOct 11, 2014
Overlong and sometimes schmaltzy — but still hugely engaging. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleOct 9, 2014
Beethoven once went five years without composing. Until now, Downey has gone five years without making anything close to a serious movie. The bigger waste of time was Beethoven’s, but talent wasted is talent wasted. This is the type of film Downey should be making. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsOct 9, 2014
Despite playing with a stacked deck, The Judge is guilty of exceeding expectations. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyOct 8, 2014
What makes the film more than just a dusty Grisham retread is that the case (as compelling as it is) is merely the backdrop for a more emotionally engaging story about fathers and sons played, like a duet, by two virtuoso actors who give the film not only all they have but probably more than it requires. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranOct 9, 2014
However unwieldy the final result, Dobkin and company deserve credit for helping Duvall and Downey create vibrant, dramatic characters that involve the performers in rousing, stem-winder ways. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaOct 10, 2014
Sure, there's a witty reference to another, vastly more momentous legal drama (To Kill a Mockingbird, Robert Duvall's film debut). And yes, Farmiga gets to call out Downey, and stay in character, for "that hyper-verbal vocabulary vomit thing that you do." Small pleasures, in a bigger mess. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliOct 9, 2014
Two words that come to mind when considering The Judge are generic and predictable. It's also well-intentioned and earnest (perhaps to a fault). Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrOct 9, 2014
A slick, ripsnorting character drama whose artistic ambitions are consistently neutralized by its commercial imperatives, puts Downey in a box from which even he can’t escape. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaOct 9, 2014
An unabashedly adult drama and a steadfastly old-fashioned one. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 9, 2014
Of the 141 minutes in The Judge, roughly 70 work well, hold the screen and allow a ripe ensemble cast the chance to do its thing, i.e., act. The other 71 are dominated by narrative machinery going ka-THUNKITA-thunkita-thunkita. Read full review
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